Dozens of the biggest names in scripted television today signed an open letter to Tyler Perry after the Writers Guild filed charges of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relatios Board on Thursday after he allegedly fired more than half his writing staff on the TBS sitcom House Of Payne because of their union activity, and bargained in bad faith with the Hollywood guild. Now the WGA is picketing his studio:

This season, scripted television programming will consist of about 150 shows employing 1,200 writers.

Of that universe, 149 shows and 1,193 writers will produce shows covered by the Writers Guild’s Minimum Basic Agreement. The MBA guarantees minimum compensation, residuals, health coverage, and pension in addition to other benefits.

The big exception? Tyler Perry’s House of Payne and the seven writers who, collectively, played a key role in producing over 100 episodes of one of television’s most successful sitcoms.

Right now, these seven writers are in a struggle with you, the producer of House of Payne, to extend Guild coverage to the show. This past Monday, after months of negotiations with the Guild, four of the writers were abruptly and illegally fired because of their efforts to secure the same minimums and benefits as their peers.

We all know that producing television is a tough and uncertain business. But some things are simply not acceptable.

We have a simple ask – reinstate the writers and make a fair deal with WGA.